Memories

Here's all the notable memories that I've had since I was young.

Earliest Memories Ever (3-5 years old)

  • I remember playing with my new toy truck in the kitchen, which was the only area in my house with a wooden floor. My dad was cooking something.
  • I remember trying to open the door when my friend rang the doorbell, but there was a child stopper thing, and I couldn't find my parents.
  • I remember picking cherries in my backyard
  • "JOMA WIPE MY BUTT!"
  • When I first learned how to fold socks into little balls, I would take my socks off during nap time and throw them across the room. The teacher got very mad...
  • I threw up in pre-school for the first time after someone hit me in the stomach while in line

Elementary School

  • We built a wooden firetruck in Kindergarten, and I remember sitting on top of it
  • I threw a pineapple at someone... Well at least it was those canned pineapples
  • We played infection tag with (almost) the entire school! It was so fun, but the principal ended it since she was worried people would get hurt. Ugh
  • Mr. Lee was pretty funny
  • We did multiplication tables in Mrs. Chen's class for cookies, and I won the class some snickerdoodles
  • They opened the Mitchell park library in 4th grade, and we would go after school everyday to play Global Strike, which is an online knockoff of Counter Strike. We'd also get frozen yogurt from Ada's CafĂ©.
  • I learned to code on Khan Academy. Mrs. Chen took the people who finished the math homework early and brought us outside. She told us that we should learn how to code since we finished the math so quickly. I remember Jonathan was with me too, but I don't remember who else. I loved it, since I always dreamed of making my own video games
  • My mom made me join debate. It sucked. Fuey said, "Yes sir" one time and the teacher got mad cuz he thought he said something else, though I'm not sure what he thought it was.
  • I ran for president. Apparently, I spread rumors about Michelle giving more homework to people, though I don't remember that happening. I also promised a video game day, and I won by over 2/3 vote (there were 6 candidates, and usually boys voted for boys and girls voted for girls; that's pretty impressive!). People even cheered wildly as I came up to give my speech, and I got in trouble because the principal thought I planned that. I was kicked out of office because they thought I spread rumors, and they ended up cancelling office positions after my year graduated.
  • I remember on the last day of school, we'd have this carnival where there were many different stations, and we could win candy and donuts and cotton candy.
  • We'd play dodgeball every Friday night (thanks mom), and I'd always wear my lucky Friday shirt (first it was the neon one, then the Dragon Ball one)
  • The American Revolution reenactment was fun. I was Benedict Arnold
  • I remember the play that we put on, I think Max was in it
  • Me and Fuey would do a "Fusion... HA!"
  • Me and Fuey would do "training in the clouds", where we would do push ups during lunch. I got pretty strong from that
  • I loved the Legend of Zelda and Dragon Ball Z
  • Balcutha field trip (got KFC), and field trip to the place where we went gold mining (forgot the name already)
  • Getting to Spell Valley in Clash Royale meant you were the coolest kid in school
  • "Shake It Off" Graduation
  • Foothill camp, playing capture the flag and espionage
  • Playing on my 3DS and DSI and tablet for as long as I could. I played Pixel Gun in China for a whole month (5+ hours a day)
  • I think we used to have a hug line for attendance in Mrs. Chen's class. I don't remember exactly.

I have way too many memories to list here, so I'll end it here. Each time I think of a memory, a new one pops up. I had so much fun during these years in Elementary School.

Middle School

  • DisCheney
  • My first sleepover and many more. We'd just talk about who we liked and stayed up late to watch movies.
  • I got a 1/4 on an English assignment. From that point on, I never accepted anything less than a 4, and I actually got those most of the time.
  • I broke my ankle and missed Track Finals. I broke it again and missed most of 8th grade basketball. I lost my starting spot to Nathan
  • I spent so much time learning Unity. Brackeys was my favorite youtuber.
  • In 7th grade, I'd wake up at 6AM to read "Accelerated C++". Don't ask why. I also brought that book everywhere I went.
  • I built Spartan Royale in 6th grade for a history project
  • Fortnite was insanely popular. I played it way too much. Fortnite mobile runs at the library was crazy
  • I built HWBounty at a hackathon, where we did not win anything. I built "Fantasy Football" (no not that one), and we won "most creative"
  • Parry God was actually pretty good. If I had more time, I'd probably publish it.
  • I built a Magic Mirror. It's crazy how my 8th grade self knew how to use linux
  • The garlic bread was very good. My friends would bet each other for Izzy's
  • We played pool at the Teen Center after school. We'd bet a lot of money. I think Cheney made like $80.
  • I'd do behind-the-back clap push ups in math class to impress a girl I liked.
  • In 6th grade orchestra, I asked Ethan if he knew calculus and he said yes
  • James 1v1'd some girl in basketball and we had the whole school (even admin) watching.

High School

  • I was the only person on a business club Zoom call, and the president personally tutored me on how to do an impromptu interview
  • Playing way too much Valorant and R6
  • Parry God, FPStudy, Block Bender, Throw Gun
  • More raps... A lot of raps...
  • Portfolio website and game
  • Playing golf with my coworkers at Atmosic. Getting boba too
  • A stupid online "internship" at SportsHi. It was really stupid
  • I was scared that I wouldn't have anything for the summer, so I called my parent's friend's friend who is a Stanford professor (Naren Chittar). He talked a lot about AI, but I didn't know anything about AI. He said I should work on open source
  • I was very intimidated that I was talking to the FOUNDER of a startup. I dressed up in fancy clothes for my very informal interview with Dave at Atmosic. We drank some coke and talked about my (pretty bad) resume and what I wanted to get out of the internship.
  • 9 months later and I'm getting lunch with Dave at Gott's Burgers, where he is helping me out with my project that is using his company's Bluetooth chip.
  • LunchTrak was my most ambitious project yet. I talked to everyone about it (small group church, 1517 VC Fund manager, Uncle John and his brother, girls in my class). I had a good luck streak going and my company got paid to manufacture my product for a summer pilot.
  • My Chinese was really bad so my dad had to save me mid-call with the manufacturing company discussing why I needed to rush production.
  • My summer pilot failed miserably; the thought of it still hurts, but what's worse is that I haven't done anything grand since then (writing this in early 2025).
  • I led the Gunn Alumni project. It made me feel special but it didn't lead anywhere.
  • Senior year, Fuey and I clutched the last homecoming game, but we still tied with the Juniors.
  • We made a music video "Pride and Prejudice". Top 2 English class for sure.
  • I was on SEC. We did stupid meetings every Wednesday. The only fun part was building Elimination and hanging out with the other Seniors.
  • The start of basketball season went really well, but I lowkey fell off after "breaking" my nose on the day that UC applications were due.
  • College applications were super stressful and I spent an average of 1 hour a day for 6 months. I didn't get into Stanford (I had to text James a sad face instead of calling him).
  • I ended my Common App with a rap. I thought it was unique. Looking back it is cringey AF and I don't know how anyone who read that let me put it there.
  • I jumped with joy after basketball practice when I got into UT Austin. That was the first college I've gotten into. I called my parents. Cheney also got in.
  • Nathan Levy's little brother pisses me off. I got him back though after he waited 2 hours for basketball practice to end but I was still holding my plushie.
  • Prom was good. I drank for the first time (though apparently it was less than 2 shots worth). I was physically shaking, probably as a placebo effect. I also got my senior assassin target at Ruth's house.
  • We skipped photography class to get Boba Bliss and State of Mind pizza
  • We had Senior Ditch Day at Poplar beach. I drank a little, others were in "the bajillinth dimension". I told Fuey he should pick UCSB over UIUC (I think if I wasn't so pushy he might of).
  • We graduated. I can't believe it.
  • Our senior trip was in Portugal. We played poker, ate good food, explored and went on beautiful hikes.
  • FSSP (the summer program at UCSB) did not feel real. I feel like I lost my ambition. I did some regretful things. But I made some good friends. I also learned how to surf.

College

  • I came here early to snag the bottom bunk and take up extra space for my computer setup.
  • I got into CCS the second week of school. I was considering not doing it, but it ended up being a good decision. I would actually die if I had to take the boring ass intro CS courses.
  • I went to church sometimes with Surya. Played a lot of ping pong too.